Texas Issues Another Cease-and-Desist over Alleged Crypto Fraud

February 27, 2018

A Texas regulator is gunning for yet another cryptocurrency-related company it accuses of promoting unregistered securities targeting the U.S. state's residents.

According to a document received and reviewed by CoinDesk, the Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) issued a new cease-and-desist order on Feb. 26 to a Panama-based cryptocurrency firm named LeadInvest.net.

The state regulator said it considers the firm's cryptocurrency mining and trading programs to be unregistered security offerings and, furthermore, that LeadInvest is also using fake stock images to portray its team members.

The TSSB details that the firm's website and promotions have allegedly been making deceptive and misleading statements when soliciting Texas residents - promising 20 to 100 percent returns on investments within one to three months through the firm's cryptocurrency mining and trading services.

The regulator further states that the web profile images of the company's staff are either stock photographs of models that can be found at image vendors or are images of other individuals with no connection with the company.

The TSSB alleges in the document that, as of Feb. 26, the firm has collected over $177 million from over 190,000 accounts.

The new cease-and-desist order is yet another indication of the efforts the TSSB is putting into in scrutinizing cryptocurrency-related investment programs that solicit interests from Texas-based investors.

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